Rachel Carlson.

Rachel Carlson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Guild Education, the education benefits platform that partners with America's largest employers to offer tuition-free education and career development programs to their frontline workers.

Carlson co-founded Guild in 2015 with Brittany Stich, building on the thesis that employers-not student loans-should be the primary funders of American higher education for working adults. Guild partners with companies including Walmart, Disney, Chipotle, Hilton, and Target to provide their employees with access to debt-free degrees, certificates, and skills programs from a curated network of universities and learning providers. The company has been valued at over $4 billion. Under Carlson's leadership, Guild has helped hundreds of thousands of workers access education they otherwise could not afford. She has been named to Fortune's 40 Under 40, Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, and Time's 100 Most Influential People. Her creation of a new model for funding adult education-through employer benefits rather than student debt-represents one of the most promising innovations in American higher education and workforce development.